Can-heading machine.



No. 820,454. 1 r4 PATENTBD MAY 15, 190s.. I

H. 0.11. WALSH.

CAN HEADING MACHINE. 'APPLICATION FILED un 1, 1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HARRY C. H. WALSH, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO CONSOLIDATED lPRESS AND TOOL COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

CAN-HEADING MACHINE.

'.ratented. May 15, 1906.

Application filed May l, 1905. Serial No. 258,168*

To a/ZZ- wwm, it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRY C. H. WALSH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented new and useful Improvements in Can-Heading Machines,` of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof.

The purpose of this invention is to provide, in a can heading machine, an improved means for grasping, holding, and releasing the heads.

It consists of the features of construction set out in the claims.

` In the drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical section between the two headers constituting my machine, showing one of them in face elevation, section being made at the line 1 1 on Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a section at the line 2 2 on Fig. l.

This invention is designed to be an improvement onthe can-heading machine shown in my application, Serial No. 224,175, filed September 12,' 1904, the improvements relating to the lmeans for grasping the heads and ends of the bodies for concentering them while they are being forced together.

For the purpose of identifying the parts of the machine not directly concerned in the improvement, but which are necessarily,

shown in the drawings, it will be brieiiy described. It comprises two cooperating headers 1 and 2, which face each other and are mounted for rotation upon stud-axles 3 3, which are slightly divergent. Each of the headers is constructed as a gear, the peripheral gear-rims 4 4 being meshed with the driving-pinions 5 5 on a driving-shaft 6, so that the two headers have synchronous movement about their respective slightlydivergent axes. Upon the facing sides of the two headers there are mounted at directly-opposed positions devices for seating and grasping-the can-heads and opposed ends of the portions of the body which are introduced between the two headers at a proper point in the path of rotation of the latter. The improvement relates to the construction and mode of operation of these graspers, which will now be described.

Each of the graspers comprises two jaws 7 and 8, each jaw being semicircular, so that when closed together they may encompass the can-head, and being wide enough to eX- tend onto and grasp' the end portions of the body. The jaw 7 is rigid with the header. The jaw 8 has a shaft 8a, journaled for rocking in the header, the journal-bearing being in the parting plane of the two jaws. At the outer side of the header there is rigid with the shaft 8a a pinion 10, and at that side of the header there is mounted in position for movement radial with respect to the header a rack-bar 11, whose rack-teeth engage the pinion 10. At the outer side of the header there is a cam 12, with whose cam-track a b c d an abutment, consisting of a stud and roll 13, projecting laterally from the inner end of the rack-bar 11, is engaged, so that as the header revolves the rack-bar is reciprocated radially in its slide-bearings, the time of its reciprocating movement being controlled by the contour of thev cam-track. The inward movement of the rack-bar while the abutment 13 travels in the inwardly-trending portion o of the cam-track, rocks the jaw 8 through a sufficient angle to carry it from a closed to an open position, at which the can heads and bodies may be received from the chute 14, as shown in Fig. 2. Succeeding to the inwardly-trending portion a of the camtrack is an inner concentric portion b, and while the abutment 13 is traveling in said inner concentric portion the grasper-jaws are held open, first for delivering and afterward for receiving the can heads and bodies, and while the abutment travels in the neXt following outwardly-trending portion cof the cam-track the rack-bar closes the grasperjaws about the can-heads and end portions of the bodies and holds them closed, while the abutment follows the next succeeding outer concentric portion d of the cam-track. i

The can heads and bodies are received at the point in the path of rotation of the headers at which the latter are most separated by reason of the slight divergence of their axes, as seen in Fig. 2, and the jaws after being closed remain closed byreason of the abutment following the outer concentric portion d of the cam-track until the jaws reach substantially the opposite position in the path of rotation of the headers from that at which the can heads and bodies are received-that is to say, the position at which the two headers are closest together, the heads being forced onto the bodies by the approach of the IOO headers as they rotate from the first-mentioned position to the last. At this point the abutment 13 passes again into the inwardly-trending portion a of the cam-track, and the grasper-jaws relax their grasp upon the cans, so that while the headers continue to revolve and separate, the jaws continuing to open, there is no tendency, which might otherwise arise from the separation mentioned, to pull off the heads which have been forced onto the bodies during the iirst half of the rotation. The cans .with the heads forced onto them are delivered by gravity from the open jaws at 'the lower side into the chute l5, as seen in Fig. l.

l. In a machine for the purpose indicated, in combination with the two headers facing each other and means for synchronously revolving them, graspers mounted at opposed positions on the headers respectively, each comprising two jaws, one of the jaws being journaled in the header, and having about its pivotal axis a pinion rigid with it, a rackbar meshing with the pinion and guided for reciprocation on the header, and a fixed cam with which the rack-bar i's engaged at its inner end for reciprocating the latter as the header revolves.

2. In a machine for the purpose indicated, in combination with the two headers facing each other and means for synchronously revolving them, graspers at opposed positions on the headers respectively, each comprising a fixed jaw and a pivoted jaw, the pivoted jaw having a pinion, a rack-bar mounted on the header engaging the pinion, and a fixed cam which engages the rack-bar for reciprocating it as the header revolves.l

3. In a machine for the purpose indicated, in combination with the headers facing each other and means for synchronously rotating them, graspers at opposed positions on the two headers respectively, each comprising a fixed jaw and a rocking jaw, the latter having a shaft journaled in the header, a pinion rigid with the shaft at the outer side of the header; a rack mounted for guidance on the l outer side of the header engaging the pinion; a cam xed on the header bearing at the outer side of the header and engaging the rack-bar for reciprocating it as the header revolves.

4. In a machine for the purpose indicated, in combination with the rotating header, a grasper mounted thereon comprising two jaws, one ofthe jaws being journaled in the header and having about its pivotal axis a pinion rigid with it; a rack-bar meshing with the pinion and guided for reciprocation on the header, and a fixed cam with which the rack-bar is engaged for reciprocating the j latter as the header revolves.

5. In a machine for the purpose indicated, in combination with two headers facing each other and means for synchronously revolving them; graspers for the can-heads mounted at opposed positions on the headers respectively, each comprising two jaws, one of which is fixed on the header, the other being pivoted for swinging substantially in the plane of rotation of the header, each of said jaws being semicircular, and means for rocking the pivoted jaw to close and open it.

6. In a machine for the purpose indicated, in combination with two headers facing each other and means for synchronously revolving them; can-head graspers mounted at opposed positions on the headers respectively, each of said graspers comprising one jaw which is fixed on the header and another jaw which is pivoted thereon, the two jaws when close together constituting a completely-circular ring for grasping the head, the pivoted jaw being adapted to swing through one hundred and eighty degrees from closed to open position, and means operated by the rotation of the header for opening and closing it.

In testimony whereof l have hereunto set my hand, in the presence of two witnesses, at Chicago, Illinois, this 7th day of April, 1905.

HARRY C. H. WALSH.

In presence of- CHAs. S. BURTON, T. J. POTTER. 

